The provision of adequate powerplant cooling is one of the most important design considerations facing automotive designers, and this is true with both purely engine driven and hybrid vehicles. Ubiquitous air-to-liquid heat exchanger systems utilize an air-cooled radiator core and an electro drive fan. Of course, when designing a new vehicle it is usually possible to package both the radiator core and the fan without undue difficulty. However, the dictates of styling and crashworthiness sometimes result in extremely limited space for the radiator and fan, necessitating unwanted design compromises. Moreover, inadequate space between the engine and the radiator grille may be particularly acute in the case of vehicles having extensive modifications including aftermarket engines, intercooling, and air conditioning. This may exacerbate cooling problems for higher performance vehicles. It would be desirable to provide a modular unit with excellent cooling performance, while using less underhood space, and particularly, less longitudinal space as measured from the forwardmost part of the engine to the front of a vehicle.